The Journal of Ordinary Blog
If you are familiar with the Journal of Ordinary Thought (JOT), then their infamous mantra, “Every person is a philosopher,” goes without saying. In today’s two-dimensional world the adage holds true. From the informational thresholds of the internet and every “www” we enter into our browsers, it seems like everyone is writing. I mean it’s clear that blogging has become a somewhat acceptable form of creative venting. People post everything from daily meanderings to poetry collections and short stories. The fact remains, for better or worse, the internet is lending people a peculiar voice.
But before blogging or facebooking, before we could verbify social networking tools, the Journal of Ordinary Thought was already an outlet for some of the darkest recessed voices of Chicago. It still is today, offering a platform for those to create content that is not only true to themselves, but to city and people they know, admire, and despise. As the internet makes it painstakingly easy for anyone to share the most mundane activities (going to grocery store for sugar! #tweet), the JOT serves as a reminder that there can be meaning and artfulness in the everyday.
Under the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, the non-profit organization based in Hyde Park, the Journal of Ordinary Thought has been a part of the Chicago literary scene for over 20 years. The Neighborhood Writing Alliance hosts a slew of creative writing workshops in low-income neighborhoods across Chicago. The workshops, usually held in public libraries, aim to foster creative sparks within these communities and beyond. Residents from neighborhoods like Albany Park, Bronzeville, and Uptown, spend one day a week creating and workshopping their content, creating a dialogue between themselves and each other.
Along with the workshop leader and volunteers, they finalize their work into a theme that ultimately becomes the published Journal of Ordinary Thought. Identities and constructs intersect through the pages of the journal, offering snapshots and glimpses of not only Chicago, but what it means to live on the fringe of society. Economy, race, familial ties, education, religion: issues that are discussed at the workshops find their way into the publication.
Like the internet, the JOT taps into a certain kind of democracy. Writers from all demographics are published in the journal every year and the members keep growing. The journal encourages its writers to interact with one another not through keyboard and screen, but by workshops and print. By today’s standards that is considered grassroots. If you need a dose of the “Chicago voice,” and at the moment don’t have time to plow through Saul Bellow’s letters or Stud Terkel’s Division St. (or any other of your favorite writers who have graced this city with their penmanship), the journal is worth subscribing to!
The current journal, entitled, “Into the Banks,” is for Spring 2010. The contributing writers were a part of the workshops from the Hall and King Branch Libraries, Alexandre Dumas Elementary School, and San Lucas Church.
- Michael Nolledo
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In celebration of this year’s Printers’ Ball theme, Print <3 Digital, Chicago Underground Library will release blog posts for every day of July leading up to the Ball. CUL editors, volunteers, and guest bloggers from around Chicago are working around the clock to bring you a preview of what you’ll find and who you’ll meet at the Ball. We’ll also delve into our archives of small press and independent local media for a look back at how we got here. CUL’s model borrows community-building principles from digital culture to strengthen and draw attention to local networks in print, proving that Digital <3 Print, too.
The Neighborhood Writing Alliance will be participating in this year’s Printers’ Ball so be sure to visit them and check out their publication, The Journal of Ordinary Thought.
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Tags: Journal of Ordinary Thought, Michael Nolledo, Neighborhood Writing Alliance, print media, Printers' Ball 2010 Blog-Down
